Accountable Time

There exists a lot of urban legend around accountable time. Like me, you may have heard a variety of lore on the topic. Since accountable time is a central feature of our contract with the college, the only reliable source on the subject is our collective agreement. What follows elaborates on a few terse lines of that document.

Regular faculty members are employed for twelve months per year, two of which are a vacation period. The term, “accountable time” refers to the ten months of the year remaining after the two months of vacation have been taken.

One of the ten months of accountable time is “professional and curriculum development” time. The remaining nine months of accountable time includes "such activities as
teaching, the counselling of students, and participation on committees.”

Regular faculty members are accountable to request the dates of their vacation months and the dates and activities included in their remaining ten months. They do this by way of a Faculty PD/Vacation form available on the Employee Relations web page and submitted to their Coordinator before the first day of the Fall Semester each year.

Though regular faculty members often spend their time outside of vacation, PD and teaching at their own discretion, it is understood that they are accountable to do college work thirty-five-hours-per-week, ten-months-per-year excluding statutory holidays. The college can and sometimes does require faculty to perform teaching and other college duties during times that have not been requested and approved as vacation or PD/curriculum development.

For contract faculty members, accountable time is the time it takes to perform the duties specified in their contract.

Source: Article 8 - Collective Agreement Between Douglas College and Douglas College Faculty Association, April 1, 2007 – March 31, 2010